Turkey porn

[g8rvet]

That is what my nephew and his girlfriend call the turkey hunting shows.  I always watch some this time of year.  Tape them and skip the commercials and just generally get fired up.  Nothing but fishing this time of year for me, so it gives me a fix for a month.

Some of them are hysterical too (without intending to be I believe).  Some of these folks do things kerrrrrrazy (or maybe pretend to do things) - the fake cutaways of preparing for the shot are obviously done afterwards.  These guys wiggling their hands all over or changing positions like they are being attacked by a bear instead of trying to move slow for a turkey.  My favorite are the ones that have the birds in very close on the shot and then show the hunter raising a gun quickly with nothing but air between them and the bird at 15 steps (goodbye Tom). 

I also love the calling.  I reckon the main goal is to get the bird to gobble 100 times for the camera, but calling to a bird that is already coming like they are trying to get a shock gobble (ummm, I guess they are).  Probably takes the pressure off to know if they blow that bird there are 15 others willing to work on the same property. 

When I first started hunting spring birds, I watched these shows thinking I would learn something.  HAH!  I definitely learned more on here in 6 months (after unlearning many of the "tips" I gleaned from those shows on my own) than I did in the years of watching those silly shows.  They are entertainment and so far from educational it is laughable.  Feel dumb for having thought there was much to learn.  Of course if I could hunt on a managed butterball factory I guess it would be helpful. 

just wondered how many folks watch to get fired up.

[TauntoHawk]

I'm all for quality turkey porn which can be tough to find these days, too much over produced untalented product placing garbage on the networks.. I'll watch calling all turkeys, Dave Owens, Real Outdoors TV, and Spring Thunder on YouTube and own all 4 fired Up with Chad Claycomb. These show seem to lack a majority of the "showmanship" stuff that I can't stand and keep the hunt real and raw feeling while not being a grainy blurry messy I start about now each year and watch until turkey season starts.

If all your hunts are out of a blind I'm not interested (don't mind a few)
If your calling sounds like you put a duck and a cat in a dryer I am not interested
If none of your hunts take place in the timber again im not that interested

I just find these thing lead to a boring viewing experience for me

Last (cable) turkey show I saw had the durry's set decoys up at 50yds from an elevated shoot house so they could show off the range of their new shell sponsors and then tote about how they never made a call and just let the decoys do the work. Now I like those guys but that was soooooooo boring for me to watch and the yardage stunt was mildly off putting. It wasn't even raining, why you'd want to be inside something on a beautiful spring day is beyond me having to stick my head out a window to hear one gobble lol

[wvboy]

I agree.. most of the stuff is Crap out now.. even Primos has went way down hill.. but I do have a few Youtube channels I like to watch.. Dave Owens is awesome.. recently found The Call Outdoors .. it is really good too IMO ..

[sixbird]

I watch them mainly for the primary stars, the turkeys. Most of the shows you wonder if the turkey has some sort of hearing deficiency or if the calling is overdubbed. It's just so bad, you think a turkey would NEVER come to that, yet you see them plodding on to their demise.
Then it's the I,I,I. I smoked him. I made him come right in...Sometimes I have to turn them off. After the star dies, most of it is an exercise in ego.
I have to say, I like Cuz Strickland and the few that Steve Rinella does, although his calling is poor at best. Calling All Turkeys is excellent. As is Spring Thunder. The Call is good also. I like to watch Marlin Watkins over and over, the small number of vids. that he's done. Calley Morris has some pretty good stuff also.
I can tolerate some of the shows because of the excellent videography and the gorgeous birds, in spite of the hosts.
I have to admit though, this time of year, I'm a little more forgiving of anybody who'll give me my fix...!

[Greg Massey]

You have to remember shows are show's and while i agree i don't care for a lot of what they do, I do support some parts. Why because these show's have the support of vendors and companies that do support our 2 Amendment. We need these hunting channels and organizations to help protect our hunting rights, because this WORLD has become so political. Do you people know one of the largest anti-hunting group is Humane Society of the United States. They are working daily to restrict your hunting seasons and practices. Let's look at these show's as another way to help in protecting our hunting rights. Again if you don't like a show you can either turn the channel or the TV off. But i will continue to support some parts of these shows for our Rights. I hope people will start having a more open mine what some parts of these shows mean to our future of hunting. They are some shows that are really good like Primos, Hunting the Country and The Bone Collector.

[sixbird]

You have to remember shows are show's and while i agree i don't care for a lot of what they do, I do support some parts. Why because these show's have the support of vendors and companies that do support our 2 Amendment. We need these hunting channels and organizations to help protect our hunting rights, because this WORLD has become so political. Do you people know one of the largest anti-hunting group is Humane Society of the United States. They are working daily to restrict your hunting seasons and practices. Let's look at these show's as another way to help in protecting our hunting rights. Again if you don't like a show you can either turn the channel or the TV off. But i will continue to support some parts of these shows for our Rights. I hope people will start having a more open mine what some parts of these shows mean to our future of hunting. They are some shows that are really good like Primos, Hunting the Country and The Bone Collector.

Well put brutha'. Although we may not all like the same shows, there's a place and, like you say, a value to most of them...Second amendment is second for a reason...

[silvestris]

Everybody wants to be a rock star.

[g8rvet]

I am a veterinarian. 

Trust me, I know all about the HSUS.   They are a money raising organization. I have had wealthy clients ask about charities and I unfailingly steer them away from HSUS.  They are anti-hunting, they have ties with terrorist organizations like ALF and not a single penny, not one, of the money they raise goes to shelter/homeless animals. They are not affiliated with local "humane societies" at all. 

I volunteered during a local flood with another group. I was already scheduled to be on vacation so I went and helped with the rescued animals for 2 days, just cut our vacation short.  The group that was overseeing the operation started calling me about donations a few months later. I told them they were an anti-hunting group and while I would volunteer with any boots on the ground group helping animals, they would never see a penny of my money.

So while I understand your dislike for HSUS and your support of 2nd Amendment rights (NRA life member here), I fail to see a connection with how watching a show supports the vendors that support the show.  In fact, it seems the opposite to me.  Like buying from the vendors lets them donate to pro-hunting groups (I am a member of one, officer in another) AND support the shows. I guess I see it can put a pro hunting message out there and maybe for shows like Primos, RNT, etc that are hawking a line of products.  I think just subscribing to those channels does more than actually watching them.  I am not disagreeing with your premise, just not making the connection in my head. 

[g8rvet]

Then it's the I,I,I. I smoked him.

Lmao.  This year on our Canada duck hunt, when we finished the hunt or were sitting around in camp we would do the SMACKDOWN! Or SMOKED EM! in a douchey voice.  We got a little silly over some strong Canadian beer one night and gave our group a stupid name and said we were gonna make videos and sell them on Al Gore's interwebs.  It was a lot funnier with a heavy beer buzz going, but we still laugh about it. 

[Happy]

The awsome display of calling, woodsmanship and sportsmanship is just so overwhelming my senses can't handle it. I am so awstruck and jealous that I have come to realized I am better off not watching.

Sent from my SM-G800R4 using Tapatalk

[g8rvet]

 

[guesswho]

I can't watch them.   Most of them are on the opposite end of the turkey hunting spectrum than I'm on.   I do about 99.9% of the hunt different than they do.   About the only thing I can relate to is maybe enhancing the story after the hunt a little bit.   I have been known to add a couple extra details for entertainment purposes. 

[Greg Massey]

Hunting is conservation, simply put, we have one of the most successful wildlife management system in the world. Hunters, anglers and hunting shows have contributed more financial and physical support to help with conservation organizations. Show's help promote NWTF, NRA, RME foundation land management and gun safety. Show's help promote the sale of firearms and ammunition with a tax to help manage our wildlife Services. Without these show's we will loose more first time hunter wanting to learn something about the outdoors. Again i agree not all show's are good and some are better. Without someway of showing people hunting show's or whatever our numbers are in a constant decline, we must BAND together and support one another. These shows cost a lot of money and they cost a lot to make. I just look at some hunting shows as a way to get people interested in hunting and keep promoting organizations because look around we are a dying breed of hunters. Just look yesterday on this forum how many springs have you been hunting average was 25 plus years or more of hunting wild turkeys. Were are all the first timer hunters ?

[g8rvet]

Gotcha and what I took from your post.  Recruitment is support. 

[Greg Massey]

Agree 100 percent, all the post were great...